After our adventure at El Gallo Giro yesterday, we buzzed on over to the Quarry to rock climb with our outdoor recreation class. A few highlights from the evening...
- As we were learning to belay, we happened to choose one of the hardest walls to practice on. I jumped up to climb first. Luckily for me, the climbing coach was standing right next to us to make sure Zac belayed well. He told me where to put my feet and where to grab next. I was able to make it up a decent amount of the wall. Zac was passed off and the coach left. Then it was Zac's turn to climb the crazy wall. He couldn't. At all. But to add to that, I was a horrible belayer. Zac got off the ground a few feet one time, but I was so focused on telling him where to put his feet and hands that I forgot to belay. When he fell off the wall, he just came crashing back into me. Don't worry. I improved.
- Some guy was climbing the wall right next to me and as I came down off the wall and was untying my rope, I felt something fall in-between my feet. I looked down to see a huge cell phone. WHAT? That guy was clear up at the top of the wall! Had that phone hit me in the head, there could have been serious issues. Come on, man. Take your phone out of your pocket before you climb. Rookie mistake. Just kidding. He was really good.
- We tried bouldering... which is rocking climbing without ropes. The walls are shorter and the idea is much more lungy than reach and climb. Zac and I were both horrible. Mostly I was horrible. I should have clipped my nails before going. Woops. There were little kids that go weekly and take climbing lessons. They were dominating those walls. Zac got off of an easy V1 and a tiny kid immediately swooped! He scaled the wall about three different times within 30 seconds. Zac and I both bowed our heads and walked away in shame.
- The last wall we climbed was supposedly the funnest one in the whole place. It was a course where you mostly used your feet on the large pink rocks and your back was pressed up against the wall to help you shimmy up. Zac climbed it like a pro. Naturally. Then it was my turn. We discovered yesterday that I have an issue with heights. I had ropes and knew I was not going to fall, but every time I neared the top of one of the walls, I started shaking like crazy. That happened again on this specific course. I made it to a spot, about 10 feet off the ground, where there were no hand holds, but there was a huge rock that I was somehow expected to get both of my feet on and still get up the wall. I was stuck there for about 10 minutes. My feet finally started cramping up and I used that as an excuse to make Zachary allow me to come down.
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